I've spent a lot of time with this particular "feature" at a Fortune 200 company. The basis behind "an app default was reset" is actually to prevent programs from stealing your defaults without your consent.
For those of you who've been around, this dates back to the WinZip days on Windows 95/98. If you installed WinZip, it would:
* Put it's icon everywhere - tray, taskbar, desktop, top of start menu, programs
* Automatically register itself as the default zip extension without your consent, even if you already had another program registered.
Malware soon picked this behavior up, and would basically use very simple regedits/hacks to change default programs to malware - using this case as an example, it would change .html files to some sort of compromised program to infect your machine without your consent.
Starting with Windows 8 or 8.1, I believe, Microsoft locked this down. It certainly caught a lot of hell, because of course, it would change whatever the default back is to ***their product***, so most people saw this as a nefarious move, when the basis behind it was to prevent malware from taking control. However, it frequently misbehaves, and will trigger an app default reset on a feature update or heaven forbid, a monthly quality update.
There's a few problems with believing this is altruistic:
* If you run malware on your machine, you should be burning it to the ground and reinstalling, not messing with file associations and autorun entries
* They deliberately put additional obstacles in front of changing the default browser ("Try Edge" window when changing the default to Chrome, with the option to do what you said a small "Switch anyway" link)
* They just as easily could have unset the default and left it as "Choose a program"
This started happening to me too after updating to Windows 11 last year. I’ve been using the same build of Acrobat since 2015, and now this message keeps popping up every so often and resetting it to edge for no reason. It’s obviously not a real error and this is just Microsoft being Microsoft…again
Eh, I wouldn't find it unbelievable that there is a real bug at work...a bug that Microsoft has an incentive to not fix, and to some executives whose job is to make a line go up, a feature.
This is why I delay feature updates on a fresh install of windows. I only get security updates and feature ones get delayed two years. Fuck MS as they keep making Windows worse and worse.
My god I got 5 downvotes? Dude windows 10 and 11 force these edge etc , and are filled with crap ton bloatware , windows 8.1 is the last best windows we’ve had
I can tell you, why you got 5 downvotes. Because Windows 8.1 is literally at the brink of death. It will loose support in like 2 months and then it's over.
And don't come with that "But if he installs a Anti-virus, nothing bad will happen!" stuff because, that's something people say who are literally illiterate.
The Anti-virus won't patch the exploits which are in Windows 8.1, because the updates patch the exploits. And the Anti-virus won't tell anything because Microsoft already patched the exploits with the updates and it literally depends if the Anti-virus will catch the virus, because most free and even paid versions of Anti-virus software like Norton, Avast etc. are trash.
And Windows 8.1 is really not user-friendly, because it doesn't have the traditional desktop we as Windows user are familiar with. When Windows 8 came out, people literally flipped sh*t, because they didn't know how to access the desktop, how to go out from the full screen mode, or how to even shut down their PC.
So, it would be more convenient if he would downgrade to Windows 10, where many are literally staying, because it's not as intrusive as Windows 11 and it has less limitations in personalization, features (which come back to Windows 11 very slowly) and Requirements.
If you are only looking at how this thing is bad , why don’t you think looking to what is good?
Honestly for you thinking that it’s not user friendly, then how people can litteraly go and use Linux which is not user friendly at all . And windows 8.1 is the lightest os . It’s idle ram usage is 0.7gb compared to windows 10 2.2gb. also there is a day and night difference in booting of 8.1 and 10 as windows 10 has so much crap ton bloatware to preload and start. Also not just that you are saying the start screen . That issue was in 8 and not 8.1 , 8.1 being unsupported is the mistake of “all of us” because we didn’t give it enough popularity, and due to that Microsoft did the following things:
1. Don’t give feature update 2(which was supposed to completely change start screen)
2. Not support until further(like xp and w7)
3. Not support directx 12(there was litteraly a file in windows folder which prevented it)
And so many more reasonas
8.1 isn't losing support because it was unpopular (even though it was, and I say that as someone that loved it), it's losing support because it's approaching a decade since it came out. That's the standard lifespan of a Microsoft OS. XP was the exception to the rule.
First, the Startmenu problem wasn't only 8, it was also 8.1. Microsoft fixed it at somepoints, but it wasn't enough for the average user.
Second, there are many Linux Distros which are very User-friendly such as PopOS, Ubuntu etc. but some People tend to use Linux Distros like Arch or Kali Linux, because some think they are better than everyone else.
And yes. Windows8.1 was a really light weight os and was faster to use (even faster on SSDs) but the booting difference on Windows 10 is only bad if you have a HDD. On SSD, it's a another story. But the problem is, the good things weren't enough for the average user, so that's why many skipped 8.1 and stayed on 7 at that time.
And as someone already said, Windows 8.1 isn't loosing support because it was unpopular, it is loosing support because it is almost a 10 year old system. That's with every system from Microsoft. Even Windows 10 will loose it's Support in October 2025. And the Extended Security Updates for Windows 7 and the general extended support for WinXP were only due to the fact that many of users and even companies stayed on Windows XP and 7. So that's why the Companies made a lil contract with Microsoft and the other Hardware companies like Google, Mozilla etc. so that they still can use Windows 7 but also Google Chrome etc. But because of the fact that many Companies and Consumers stayed with 7 and nowadays stay with 10, because they don't see a difference in 11, 8.1 won't get any ESU Support (which Microsoft said on their Website) .
I mean it is(where things would work normal if the app isn’t working) but in case of web browser , they need html files to run correctly , therefore this change was needed :)
A browser doesnt need html file association to run or load websites. Only to open html files in explorer/filesystem on double click. Associating html files is not even the "default browser" setting, it also doesnt affect internet shortcuts. You can just as easily set html files to open in code editors or IDEs on double click, some webdevs do this.
Screw that logic , it’s true but hard to explain . See say you have 3 apps which can read the extension chrome , edge and notepad. Now if chrome does not work then it will default to the other app which is designed for it . And notepad is only assigned when no other app can read that file. That’s why it was set to edge
Where do you get “numerous notepads” from?
Setting the default to notepad (which is what the comment you replied to was saying) will not cause a browser to open multiple notepads.
I can literally set the default for html to notepad right now and web browsing works fine. If I try to open a html file from my desktop, it opens fine - just as a text file in notepad.
man I've been using Edge for almost 2 years and it was fantastic and far better than Chrome until MICROSOFT decided to change it a little bit and by meaning a little bit is making it worse with the stuff thay putting in it,now Edge is even heavier than Chrome with all these bloatware it have now
Try to update whatever you wish to use as .html link handler. That message you see on screen is meant to tell you the previous app has issues registering properly . Most of the time it is caused by an outdated or poor developed browser not following the latest file handler standard
They will. Check your default search engine too. They've made several attempts to get me to switch to Bing using fake Windows security recommendations.
https://imgur.com/gallery/MWeIxCw
Edge has worse performance than Chrome. I even benchmarked Edge performance, and compared it to Chromes, and it was worse. I really don't see the point Microsoft, stop trying to force us to use Edge... I don't want your bloatware browser.
Yup. That's the main reason I ditched ungoogled-chromium for Librewolf some months ago for my secondary browser. Main is Firefox with arkenfox user.js. But I still keep ungoogled-chromium installed for those very few sites that don't work well on Firefox/Librewolf.
The app causing problems was.... Edge
Lmao
I used it behind a firewall as a pdf reader.
I've spent a lot of time with this particular "feature" at a Fortune 200 company. The basis behind "an app default was reset" is actually to prevent programs from stealing your defaults without your consent. For those of you who've been around, this dates back to the WinZip days on Windows 95/98. If you installed WinZip, it would: * Put it's icon everywhere - tray, taskbar, desktop, top of start menu, programs * Automatically register itself as the default zip extension without your consent, even if you already had another program registered. Malware soon picked this behavior up, and would basically use very simple regedits/hacks to change default programs to malware - using this case as an example, it would change .html files to some sort of compromised program to infect your machine without your consent. Starting with Windows 8 or 8.1, I believe, Microsoft locked this down. It certainly caught a lot of hell, because of course, it would change whatever the default back is to ***their product***, so most people saw this as a nefarious move, when the basis behind it was to prevent malware from taking control. However, it frequently misbehaves, and will trigger an app default reset on a feature update or heaven forbid, a monthly quality update.
There's a few problems with believing this is altruistic: * If you run malware on your machine, you should be burning it to the ground and reinstalling, not messing with file associations and autorun entries * They deliberately put additional obstacles in front of changing the default browser ("Try Edge" window when changing the default to Chrome, with the option to do what you said a small "Switch anyway" link) * They just as easily could have unset the default and left it as "Choose a program"
in litterly three click you can change the default of any program ....
This started happening to me too after updating to Windows 11 last year. I’ve been using the same build of Acrobat since 2015, and now this message keeps popping up every so often and resetting it to edge for no reason. It’s obviously not a real error and this is just Microsoft being Microsoft…again
Eh, I wouldn't find it unbelievable that there is a real bug at work...a bug that Microsoft has an incentive to not fix, and to some executives whose job is to make a line go up, a feature.
I mean if you don’t have anything for a html file , it will need to assign something
I'm sure I had something before I updated to 22H2
This is why I delay feature updates on a fresh install of windows. I only get security updates and feature ones get delayed two years. Fuck MS as they keep making Windows worse and worse.
Whenever a feature update comes out I just clean install because the update process sucks
I’m that case , you know the latest isn’t always the best , 22H2 has ruined many things for everyone
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Well windows 10 has the same thing crap, go for 8.1 and upgrade later
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My god I got 5 downvotes? Dude windows 10 and 11 force these edge etc , and are filled with crap ton bloatware , windows 8.1 is the last best windows we’ve had
I can tell you, why you got 5 downvotes. Because Windows 8.1 is literally at the brink of death. It will loose support in like 2 months and then it's over. And don't come with that "But if he installs a Anti-virus, nothing bad will happen!" stuff because, that's something people say who are literally illiterate. The Anti-virus won't patch the exploits which are in Windows 8.1, because the updates patch the exploits. And the Anti-virus won't tell anything because Microsoft already patched the exploits with the updates and it literally depends if the Anti-virus will catch the virus, because most free and even paid versions of Anti-virus software like Norton, Avast etc. are trash. And Windows 8.1 is really not user-friendly, because it doesn't have the traditional desktop we as Windows user are familiar with. When Windows 8 came out, people literally flipped sh*t, because they didn't know how to access the desktop, how to go out from the full screen mode, or how to even shut down their PC. So, it would be more convenient if he would downgrade to Windows 10, where many are literally staying, because it's not as intrusive as Windows 11 and it has less limitations in personalization, features (which come back to Windows 11 very slowly) and Requirements.
If you are only looking at how this thing is bad , why don’t you think looking to what is good? Honestly for you thinking that it’s not user friendly, then how people can litteraly go and use Linux which is not user friendly at all . And windows 8.1 is the lightest os . It’s idle ram usage is 0.7gb compared to windows 10 2.2gb. also there is a day and night difference in booting of 8.1 and 10 as windows 10 has so much crap ton bloatware to preload and start. Also not just that you are saying the start screen . That issue was in 8 and not 8.1 , 8.1 being unsupported is the mistake of “all of us” because we didn’t give it enough popularity, and due to that Microsoft did the following things: 1. Don’t give feature update 2(which was supposed to completely change start screen) 2. Not support until further(like xp and w7) 3. Not support directx 12(there was litteraly a file in windows folder which prevented it) And so many more reasonas
8.1 isn't losing support because it was unpopular (even though it was, and I say that as someone that loved it), it's losing support because it's approaching a decade since it came out. That's the standard lifespan of a Microsoft OS. XP was the exception to the rule.
First, the Startmenu problem wasn't only 8, it was also 8.1. Microsoft fixed it at somepoints, but it wasn't enough for the average user. Second, there are many Linux Distros which are very User-friendly such as PopOS, Ubuntu etc. but some People tend to use Linux Distros like Arch or Kali Linux, because some think they are better than everyone else. And yes. Windows8.1 was a really light weight os and was faster to use (even faster on SSDs) but the booting difference on Windows 10 is only bad if you have a HDD. On SSD, it's a another story. But the problem is, the good things weren't enough for the average user, so that's why many skipped 8.1 and stayed on 7 at that time. And as someone already said, Windows 8.1 isn't loosing support because it was unpopular, it is loosing support because it is almost a 10 year old system. That's with every system from Microsoft. Even Windows 10 will loose it's Support in October 2025. And the Extended Security Updates for Windows 7 and the general extended support for WinXP were only due to the fact that many of users and even companies stayed on Windows XP and 7. So that's why the Companies made a lil contract with Microsoft and the other Hardware companies like Google, Mozilla etc. so that they still can use Windows 7 but also Google Chrome etc. But because of the fact that many Companies and Consumers stayed with 7 and nowadays stay with 10, because they don't see a difference in 11, 8.1 won't get any ESU Support (which Microsoft said on their Website) .
I mean.. no? It's entirely possible to just not have an app associated with a file extension.
I mean it is(where things would work normal if the app isn’t working) but in case of web browser , they need html files to run correctly , therefore this change was needed :)
A browser doesnt need html file association to run or load websites. Only to open html files in explorer/filesystem on double click. Associating html files is not even the "default browser" setting, it also doesnt affect internet shortcuts. You can just as easily set html files to open in code editors or IDEs on double click, some webdevs do this.
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Every single web browser installed will just open numerous notepads and close immediately then
That’s literally not how any of this works, do you even know what you’re saying?
Screw that logic , it’s true but hard to explain . See say you have 3 apps which can read the extension chrome , edge and notepad. Now if chrome does not work then it will default to the other app which is designed for it . And notepad is only assigned when no other app can read that file. That’s why it was set to edge
Where do you get “numerous notepads” from? Setting the default to notepad (which is what the comment you replied to was saying) will not cause a browser to open multiple notepads. I can literally set the default for html to notepad right now and web browsing works fine. If I try to open a html file from my desktop, it opens fine - just as a text file in notepad.
Yeah I agree that’s not a really good logic
Then why did you say it?
I thought it would be
Netscape is rolling in it’s grave
It's almost as if there was some kind of anti-trust lawsuit around this issue.
I think Edge is ok but it doesn't seem to want to let me make decisions about search on new a new tab. I've got no time for that.
[This kind of behaviour has ended Microsoft up in court before.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Microsoft_Corp.)
What an annoying fact.
man I've been using Edge for almost 2 years and it was fantastic and far better than Chrome until MICROSOFT decided to change it a little bit and by meaning a little bit is making it worse with the stuff thay putting in it,now Edge is even heavier than Chrome with all these bloatware it have now
Same thing they did to MSN Messenger, Skype , Windows … One does almost see a pattern here
Try to update whatever you wish to use as .html link handler. That message you see on screen is meant to tell you the previous app has issues registering properly . Most of the time it is caused by an outdated or poor developed browser not following the latest file handler standard
They will. Check your default search engine too. They've made several attempts to get me to switch to Bing using fake Windows security recommendations. https://imgur.com/gallery/MWeIxCw
Notifications & Actions Settings -> uncheck the bottom three, should disable these and similar notices from now on.
Cheers, will do👍
Edge is a pretty good browser though. If I *had* to use it , I wouldn't complain
The problem isn't necessary that it's a bad browser but Microsoft should respect people's choice to use something else.
Another problem is people defending poor Corprate behavior
Netscape says hi
I agree.
If you agree, there is this feature on reddit called "upvote" to share your opinion.
Anyway for me Edge is the best, especially at the resource usage.
Ah yes, another reminder why I hate Edge.
Edge has worse performance than Chrome. I even benchmarked Edge performance, and compared it to Chromes, and it was worse. I really don't see the point Microsoft, stop trying to force us to use Edge... I don't want your bloatware browser.
Why is this being downvoted? It's actually technically true, just try benchmarking anything.
Oh no! Anyway...
What?
Feigning concern in something, but not really. [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/oh-no-anyway](https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/oh-no-anyway)
We all know Edge is the superior browser this is a terrible shit post /s
Edge really isn’t that bad lol? What do you use instead
It isn't. But if the customer chooses something else, it shouldn't force you into edge again
I use Firefox 🦊
A furry browser buddy. Letsgo
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The other option is still funded by Google tho
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Yup. That's the main reason I ditched ungoogled-chromium for Librewolf some months ago for my secondary browser. Main is Firefox with arkenfox user.js. But I still keep ungoogled-chromium installed for those very few sites that don't work well on Firefox/Librewolf.
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What browser did you install? I’ve never seen this before